Letters to the Editor | July 24, 2025

Under the big “beautiful” bill, the wealthiest individuals gain while the rest — including states — lose. Less federal tax revenue translates to less money for states. And what some of us may gain in our individual pockets, we lose in state and city services, including schools, mass transit, and environmental protection. How much will those with wealth gain? Households making between $217,000 and $318,000 would see a tax break of about $5,400. Those making $318,000 to $460,000 would save about $8,900. People making between $460,000 and $1.1 million get $21,000. (Americans earning more than $1.1 million would see after-tax incomes rise by 3.5%.)

My proposal is a “fair share” tax — giving Pennsylvania half this new money — so that earners would still have more cash in their pocket and our commonwealth could fund schools, mass transit, and more. What stands in the way? The Pennsylvania Constitution, which holds that “all taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects.” Is it time for a change, or for the governor to find a way for those of us who caught a windfall that many of us never wanted to pay our fair share?

Jules Epstein, Philadelphia

The Trump administration has attacked Harvard and other institutions, predicated upon the accusation that they have not done enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses. At the same time, the president has attacked other institutions for their embracing of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives, and widely decried any and all hints of “wokeness.” Please help me understand the difference between sensitivity to Jewish sensibilities (a “wokeness” to antisemitism and all that encompasses) and sensitivity to the affronts and assaults perpetrated on other minority groups. Ain’t it the same thing?

Richard W. Holmes, Huntingdon Valley

I’m writing in response to Hayim Leiter’s op-ed, “Now more than ever, Benjamin Netanyahu belongs in Cheltenham High’s Hall of Fame.” As Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu is responsible for tens of thousands of dead and injured children, including a 35-day-old infant who recently starved to death. In Judaism, we say that if you kill one person, you destroy the whole world. Netanyahu is no one to celebrate.

I, too, am a Cheltenham High School graduate (second-generation; my father was in school with Bibi), and I am so proud of the education I received, including regarding political and social issues. In 2008, around 100 students walked out of Cheltenham High to protest the five-year anniversary of the illegal and immoral 2003 invasion of Iraq. We were right to do that then, and current Cheltenham students are right to work to get Netanyahu off the Hall of Fame now. Our beloved high school and its alumni should not — and I believe do not — feel a sense of pride over producing the person responsible for, by all accounts, a genocide. I feel only shame when I think about sharing a hometown, a high school, and a religion with Netanyahu.

Mindy Isser, Cheltenham High School, Class of 2008, Philadelphia, mindy.isser@gmail.com

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